Ephraim - The ten tribes, of which Ephraim was the chief.Spake trembling - Humbled himself before God. Exalted himself - The kingdom flourished. When he offended - So soon as they sinned, taking Baal to be their God. He died - They lost their power and glory.

Thy king - I would have been thy king to govern and save thee, but thou refusedst me in both: yet I will be thy king to punish thee.Thy judges - Where are they now?And princes - Necessary to assist the king.

The sorrows - The punishment of his sins will overtake him suddenly, with great anguish. An unwise son - A foolish son, who endangers himself and his mother. He should not stay - As a child that sticks in the birth, so is Ephraim, one while will, another while will not return to God; and thus dies under the delay.

Ransom - By power and purchase, by the blood of the lamb of God, and by the power of his Godhead. Them - That repent and believe.From the grave - He conquered the grave, and will at the great day of the resurrection open those prison - doors, and bring us out in glory.From death - From the curse of the first death, and from the second death, which shall have no power over us. Thy plagues - Thus I will destroy death. I will pull down those prison - walls, and bring out all that are confined therein, the bad of whom I will remove into other prisons, the good I will restore to glorious liberty. Repentance shall be hid - I will never, as a man that repenteths, change my word and purpose, saith the Lord. What a glorious promise is this, which is interposed in the midst of all these judgments!

He - Ephraim. His brethren - Either the rest of the tribes, or the nations who by league are become as his brethren.An east - wind - An enemy as pernicious to his estate as the east - wind is to fruits. Of the Lord - A mighty enemy, called here the wind of the Lord, the usual superlative in Hebrew. The wilderness - Which lay south - east from Canaan. The south - east winds in that country were of all, most hot and blasting. He - The Assyrian army. Shall spoil - Shall carry away all desirable vessels and furniture.